About August 17
August 17, 2021 is the 229th day of the year 2021 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 136 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Tuesday.
You can browse the full year calendar in case you need it.
Hey! How’s your lovelife today? Get a free love reading
with the most frank answers. Start to seize love opportunities in your life! Did I mention it’s F-R-E-E?
(Sponsored link; 18+ only)
Leo is the sun sign of a person born on this day. Peridot is the modern birthstone for this month. Diamond is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 168 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.
What Happened On August 17
- 1807 –Robert Fulton’s North River Steamboat leaves New York City for Albany, New York on the Hudson River, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world.
- 1862 –Indian Wars: The Dakota War of 1862 begins in Minnesota as Lakota warriors attack white settlements along the Minnesota River.
- 1864 –American Civil War: Battle of Gainesville – Confederate forces defeat Union troops near Gainesville, Florida.
- 1883 –The first public performance of the Dominican Republic’s national anthem, Himno Nacional.
- 1908 –Fantasmagorie, the first animated cartoon, created by Émile Cohl, is shown in Paris.
- 1943 –World War II: The Royal Air Force begins Operation Hydra, the first air raid of the Operation Crossbow strategic bombing campaign against Germany’s V-weapon programme.
- 1943 –World War II: The U.S. Eighth Air Force suffers the loss of 60 bombers on the Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission.
- 1943 –World War II: The U.S. Seventh Army under General George S. Patton arrives in Messina, Italy, followed several hours later by the British 8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery, thus completing the Allied conquest of Sicily.
- 1945 –Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta proclaim the independence of Indonesia, igniting the Indonesian National Revolution against the Dutch Empire.
- 1947 –The Radcliffe Line, the border between Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan is revealed.
- 1950 –Hill 303 massacre: American POWs were massacred by North Korean Army.
- 1953 –Addiction: First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous in Southern California.
- 1959 –Quake Lake is formed by the magnitude 7.5 1959 Yellowstone earthquake near Hebgen Lake in Montana.
- 1962 –East German border guards kill 18-year-old Peter Fechter as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin becoming one of the first victims of the wall.
- 1978 –Double Eagle II becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in Miserey near Paris, 137 hours after leaving Presque Isle, Maine.
- 1979 –Two Soviet Aeroflot jetliners collide in mid-air over Ukraine, killing 156.
- 1980 –Azaria Chamberlain disappears, probably taken by a dingo, leading to what was then the most publicised trial in Australian history.
- 2005 –Over 500 bombs are set off by terrorists at 300 locations in 63 out of the 64 districts of Bangladesh
- 2008 –American swimmer Michael Phelps becomes the first person to win eight gold medals in one Olympic Games.
- 2009 –An accident at the Sayano–Shushenskaya Dam in Khakassia, Russia, kills 75 and shuts down the hydroelectric power station, leading to widespread power failure in the local area.
Is this your birthday? Are you not curious to learn who shares your special day? Find out the August 17 famous birthdays and expand your knowledge today. (Sponsored link)
Share or Link to This Page: